A Malaysian airliner was shot down over eastern Ukraine by militants on Thursday, killing all 300 people aboard, a Ukrainian interior ministry official was quoted as saying by Interfax-Ukraine news agency. Sources say around 80 children are also dead.

According to reports, various airlines are now avoiding eastern Ukraine airspace. Meanwhile, Ukraine separatist group blames Ukraine Air Force for the incident. Pro-Russian separatists have told Russian news agency Ria that they are willing to have up to 3-day ceasefire in Ukraine to allow for recovery work at site. The US has said that they don’t have their own confirmation about the incident. There are no confirmation about Indians being on board the airliner either.

I’m shocked and saddened by the Malaysian air disaster. Officials from across Whitehall are meeting to establish the facts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent ‘deep condolences’ to the Malaysian prime minister. US President Barack Obama said they will offer any kind of assistance to Malaysia.

The aircraft, which other sources said was a Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, came down near the city of Donetsk, stronghold of pro-Russian rebels, Anton Gerashchenko said, adding that it was hit by a ground-to-air missile.

There was no further confirmation of the report, although Ukrainian officials said local residents had found wreckage.

A holiday crowd boarded the Malaysian Airlines in Amsterdam. Not long later 295 innocent people are killed. This is akin to a war crime.

Gerashchenko was quoted as saying: “A civilian airliner travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has just been shot down by a Buk anti-aircraft system … 280 passengers and 15 crew have been killed.” Indian airline carriers have been told to avoid using the Ukraine airspace.

Malaysia’s Star newspaper quoting sources said the plane was “shot down” while cruising at an altitude of 30,000 feet. Ukraine Interior Ministry said 295 people are feared dead in the crash, it said.

Source: Twitter

ITAR-Tass news agency reported that the airliner flying at the altitude of over 10,000 metres was supposed to enter the Russian air space at 17:20 Moscow standard time (13:20 UTC).